WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2020) Pleas for votes from President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden ahead of Tuesday's presidential targeted Black US voters.
"Get everyone you know to vote, we need to get every soul in Philadelphia to the polls," Biden told a rally hosted by Sharon Baptist Church in Pennsylvania's largest city. The term "soul" is often used to describe African-Americans and Biden's event was titled "Souls to the Polls."
Trump made a similar pitch to African American voters in the state of Michigan: "To every black American I'm asking you for your vote... We welcome you to the Republican Party."
Trump bases his appeal on economic gains by Blacks during the economic expansion prior to the coronavirus pandemic, which drove the unemployment rate for African-Americans to historic lows.
Trump also criticized Biden for supporting a 1994 crime bill that led to an explosion of Blacks incarcerated for minor drug offenses, which Trump claims to have corrected with criminal justice reform legislation that he signed into law in early 2020.
"I have a message for every African-American voter in Michigan and across America. Tuesday is your chance... Show Joe Biden and the Democrat Party what you think of their decades of betrayal and abuse," Trump said.
Biden's appeal, backed by a handful of Philadelphia church leaders who spoke first, focused on an explosion of racial tensions in the past four years, reflected in nationwide protests triggered by the deaths of unarmed Blacks during routine encounters with police - tensions that Biden blamed on Trump.
"We cannot afford four more years of anger, hate, and division that we've seen under this president," Biden said.
Biden held a 78-11 percentage point lead among Black men in a recent national poll from the New York Times and Siena College, which the Times characterized as "a comparatively weak number for a Democratic nominee whose ticket includes the first Black woman selected as vice president."
Fear of COVID-19 Overshadows Both Campaigns
More than half of Americans, 51 percent, consider the coronavirus pandemic out of control, with voters 25 points more likely (61-36 percent) to rank steps to limit COVID-19 more important than reviving the economy, according to a Sunday Fox news poll.
"The pandemic has complicated the president's plan to run for re-election on the economy," Republican pollster Daron Shaw said, as quoted by Fox. "COVID-19 is the dominant issue for voters and they think Biden would do a better job."
Trump Pushes to Reopen Economy, Biden Pushes Masks
Following a week in which new COVID-19 infections surged to record levels, Trump continued urging states to lift virus-related lockdowns, repeating calls for Americans to risk returning to work while relying on medicine and a pending vaccine to keep them safe.
"It's a choice between a deadly Biden lockdown - he wants to lock it [the nation] down - and a safe vaccine," Trump told voters in Michigan.
Trump added that a vaccine is coming in "a matter of weeks" and that groundbreaking therapies have already reduced the COVID-19 fatality rate by 85 percent from the early days of the pandemic.
Biden repeated his claim to have a plan to bring the virus under control with universal use of facemasks, expanded contact tracing and other measures recommended by scientists and healthcare experts.
At the same time Biden stopped short on elaborating on earlier comments that he is exploring plans to order a nationwide mask mandate.
Status of Many Mailed Ballots Received Remains in Limbo
A Federal appeals court ruling that absentee ballots arriving after November 3 in Minnesota must be separated and may or may not be counted, depending on future court proceedings.
"We really are focused right now on making sure people can vote and we're just telling them, don't vote by mail anymore," Klobuchar said, as quoted by Fox. "Take your ballot to a dropoff box, we've got plenty of them in Minnesota."
Of the 92 million Americans who have already voted, an estimated 59 million voted by mail, according to media reports.
Because mail ballots take longer to count than ballots cast at polling places, pundits are warning that national election results are unlikely to be available on Tuesday - especially with courts yet to determine whether mail ballots postmarked before November 3 that arrive late will be valid.
